Chefsteps Free-To-Learn Culinary School

Three graduates of the Modernist Cuisine project have begun an online culinary school called ChefSteps.

Chefs Chris Young, Grant Crilly, and photographer Ryan Matthew Smith, have teamed up to create Delve Kitchen, a workshop located in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market.

Chris Young is the principal coauthor of the acclaimed six-volume work Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, which was named both the 2012 Cookbook of the Year and Best Professional Cookbook of the year by the James Beard Foundation.

Grant was the first development chef hired by the Modernist Cuisine team, and Ryan was the principal photographer and photo editor for Modernist Cuisine.

After Modernist Cuisine was published, the three of them were inspired to build their own experimental kitchen (and photo studio) where we they could keep doing what they love to do — explore what’s possible in a kitchen where the art and science of cooking come together.

Taught by a world-renowned team, ChefSteps claims students will master techniques of traditional and modernist cooking through practical, hands-on demonstrations with detailed step-by-step explanations.

“Unlike at other culinary schools, you will also learn the why’s behind the how’s from experts who bring the science of cooking to life in a compelling and practical way. Whether you are a professional chef, a culinary student, or a cooking enthusiast, if you are also a curious cook then ChefSteps is for you.”

ChefSteps boasts possessing all the usual stuff you expect in a well-equipped kitchen, plus a number of exotic tools, technologies, and toys found only in research labs and machine shops.

And steps from their door are “the farm stands, butchers, fish mongers, specialty grocers, and local artisans that make Pike Place Market the heart of Seattle’s food scene.”

The courses consists of step-by-step lessons with videos and photography as well as optional quizzes and tests. Their first course involves sous vide cooking.

“Sure, we’ll show you how you do this (sous vide cooking) if you have a multi-thousand dollar vacuum packer, but we’re also going to show you how to do it MacGyver fashion without more than a ziplock bag and a $20 thermometer.”

The ChefSteps team wants help to make their concept successful. Since the team is small, and lacks investor funding, they want people to get engaged with them and practice the techniques, try the recipes, and then provide them with feeback.

“Your feedback (good and bad) will keep us getting better at what we do.”